The Amphibian Foundation, Inc is a non-profit organization dedicated to connecting individuals, communities and organizations in order to create and implement lasting solutions to the global amphibian extinction crisis. Through conserving amphibians and their ecosystems, we are protecting one of the most sensitive and diverse groups of animals for the benefit of wildlife biodiversity, humanity and the environment.

Through conducting scientific investigations, partnering with other agencies, educating others, training citizen scientists, and disseminating information through publications, compelling graphics & web platforms — we are growing a team of committed people building relationships to inspire the conservation of amphibians.

Flatwoods Salamander Recovery Program

2012 - PRESENT

The Amphibian Foundation is working towards a comprehensive recovery plan for the imperiled Flatwoods Salamanders including captive breeding and experimental release into protected habitat.

Critter Camp

2015 - PRESENT

One of the most popular educational programs we have developed is Critter Camp! A five full day exploration into the world of reptiles and amphibians. A safe and hands-on experience for our critter campers, we spend the first day on salamanders, then frogs, then turtles, lizards and snakes. Over 200 animals are available for Critter Camp.

Young Scientists' League

2009 - PRESENT

One of the educational programs of the Young Scientists' League is the 2nd Grade Poison Frog Feeding Experiment. 2nd Graders learn how to raise Poison Frogs, design terraria, feed frogs, collect data and generate hypotheses. Groups of frogs are fed different prey items, and the groups growth rates can then be calculated and compared. Rainforest habitats can be studied so that accurate and healthy environments can be created in the classroom for keeping healthy frogs. Frogs are donated by The Amphibian Foundation and local Poison Frog breeders. (remember: Poison Frogs are safe and NOT toxic in captivity!)

FAQ

How do I get Involved?

There are many ways you can help to save amphibians. Some are outlined on the 'How You Can Help' page. You can also volunteer your time or apply for an internship with The Amphibian Foundation. Write to us at info@amphibianfoundation.org to find out more.

How can we partner with the Amphibian Foundation?

If you have a research, restoration or school project that could benefit from an amphibian component, we would love to hear from you and discuss collaboration.

Amphibian monitoring can be a vital tool for assessing restoration effects, for example. We provide amphibian data/monitoring for several initiatives in the greater Atlanta area and would be happy to discuss options with you.

Do you collaborate?

100% of our research, projects and initiatives are collaborative partnerships. It would be impossible to serve amphibians in this way without our valued partnerships — with other agencies & a passionate and concerned community.

Any questions left?

Conservation Breeding Specialists

The Amphibian Foundation | amphibianfoundation.orgOur team is a member of the Conservation Breeding Specialists Group (IUCN) and has bred dozens of amphibian species in captivity - from all over the world. Species ranging in status from common to rare and critically endangered. We focus on species of the southeastern US and are on the federal recovery team for the imperiled Frosted Flatwoods Salamander, Ambystoma cingulatum leading the initiative to breed this species in captivity in order to release offspring back into protected habitat.

Working with Children

The Young Scientists' League | y-sci.net One of our greatest passions is getting kids excited about science! It isn't all that hard as we use reptiles and amphibians and engage children by encouraging them to observe and ask questions. We offer Critter Camp and Critter Club, which are both safe and hands-on programs offered through the Friends School of Atlanta. Our most recent Young Scientists' League program — developed with amazing Atlanta partners — is the Atlanta Urban Ecologists, which is taught at various locations throughout metro Atlanta.

Training Citizen Scientists

MAAMP | maamp.us We love working with people who are passionate about amphibians and reptiles! Through our Metro Atlanta Amphibian Monitoring Program, working with great Atlanta partners on the Atlanta Urban Ecologists program and through the Young Scientists' League, we work with professionals and train 'citizen scientists' to monitor and study our urban amphibian communities right in our own backyards.

Illustrating Science

Mandica Illustration and Design | mandica.com We have been illustrating for science since the late 90's. Our biological, herpetological and scientific illustrations have been published in text books, as well as the Journal of Experimental Biology, Nature and Science. We have trained scientific illustration interns from GA Tech, SCAD and the University of Georgia in pen and ink as well as digital renderings.

Raising Awareness

Frogs Need Our Help | frogsneedourhelp.orgWe believe in spreading the word about amphibians and conservation, and diligently post updates in the field regularly. We author the frog blog, which gets an average of almost 200 hits a day. Our instagram page is the most followed frog-related feed at almost 6000 followers! We have been featured on the Care2 site, the Huffington Post, National Geographic Magazine and on their Instragram page as well. We were also featured in the incredible documentary on the global extinction crisis — Racing Extinction.

Celebrating Amphibians

Critter Camp | critter-camp.orgFor the past two summers we have offered Critter Camp at the Friends School of Atlanta (Critter Camp welcomes students from every and any school). Critter Camp is five full days of exploration, with lots of safe, hands-on experience into the world of salamanders, frogs, turtles, lizards and snakes. Critter Camp is currently offered to students ages 6- 13.

Conservation Research

1998 - PRESENT

We have worked vigilantly with many talented and dedicated partners over the years to research and conserve frogs and salamanders in the northeastern US: Marbled Salamanders, Ambystoma opacum | Spotted Salamanders, Ambystoma maculatum | Wood Frogs, Rana sylvatica, as well as most recently in the southeast US, including amphibians in Everglades National Park and the Long Leaf Pine ecosystem. We have also worked to save neotropical critically endangered species such as Lemur Leaf Frogs, Agalychnis lemur and Eyelash Marsupial Frogs, Gastrotheca cornuta.

Education and Outreach

1998 - PRESENT

In the 1990's, we formed 'Herps for Twerps' with a friend and brought reptiles and amphibians into classrooms to teach children about these incredible animals. Since then, education and outreach has always been of paramount importance to us. This year, we changed the name of our outreach programs to The Young Scientists' League to embrace our developing metro Atlanta educational programs such as Critter Camp, Critter Club and the Atlanta Urban Ecologists program which will be offered this year through a partnership with Atlanta Audubon, Chattahoochee Nature Center, Trees Atlanta, Arabia Mountain, WAWA, the Blue Heron Nature Preserve, and others. Through The Young Scientists' League, we are developing even more educational programming teaching science with reptiles and amphibians in classrooms.

Conservation Coordinator

2009 - 2016

Mark Mandica (Executive Director of The Amphibian Foundation), managed the Amphibian Conservation Program at the Atlanta Botanical Garden until 2016. During that time the program focused on neotropical frog conservation, as well as priority frog and salamander species native to the southeastern US. Mark inititated programs to contribute to the recovery of the imperiled Frosted Flatwoods Salamander and to train 'citizen scientists' to monitor urban amphibian communities in metro Atlanta. He built a strong internship program with students from GA Tech, UGA and SCAD, and developed a scientific illustration program for students at ABG. He developed and taught classes at GA Tech and Duke University TIP, and is a TED scholar that spoke on his love of salamanders, and how that transformed into contributing to the federal Flatwoods Salamander Recovery Program.

Critter Camp

2015 - PRESENT

Critter Camp started in the summer 2015 at the Friends School of Atlanta. The 5 day camp, with one day spent exploring salamanders, then frogs, turtles, lizards and snakes was a huge success and continued the next summer as well. Now, Critter Camp is expanding to the Critter Club, an after-school club during the school year. Critter Camp is open to campers (ages 6 - 13) from all schools. For more information, see: critter-camp.org

Scientific Illustration and Internships

1998 - PRESENT

Mandica Illustration and Design, Inc was incorporated in 2000 to provide scientific illustrations for biological research. Since then, we have been published in dozens of journals and text books such as Journal of Experimental Biology, Science and Nature - and The Evolution of Animal Communication and The Biology and Conservation of the Eastern Indigo Snake. Illustrating science has always been one of our favorite ways to explore science and teach science to kids. We have interned many local students in the art of scientific illustration over the past several years, and in March 2016 we exhibited these amphibian illustrations in a month-long gallery in Decatur called The Ribbit Exhibit which raised money and awareness of global amphibian declines. During the Atlanta Science Festival, we held an all-ages scientific illustration workshop teaching the 'behind-the-scenes' of scientific illutsration complete with live animals, specimens and skeletons - the types of materials illustrators work from. The workshop and exhibit productions were done in partnership with the Atlanta Science Tavern.

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Make your yard 'amphibian friendly'

On the frog blog, we are accumulating resources focused on making your backyard more habitable by amphibians. Many times these suggestions involve doing less work then you are currently doing now. Particularly in an urban environment, our properties can be vital to neighborhood amphibian communities.